Spotify to allow artists and labels to promote music in recommendations for reduced royalty rates

The experiment will see Spotify allow artists and labels in the US to prioritise certain tracks, which will then be added to the streaming service's recommendation algorithm to boost visibility across personalised listening sessions.

Artists might pick a specific track to be prioritised due to an important anniversary, a career comeback, paying tribute to something/someone, or other factors.

Spotify will trial the new tool via its own Radio and Autoplay features, and if successful, the tool could be expanded across other personalised listening modes on the platform.

The new function does come with a catch though. As Spotify isn't asking for any upfront cost for the promotional tool, labels and artists will have to agree to a reduced "promotional recording royalty rate for streams". Spotify's blog post also explains that there's no guarantee on placement for songs, "Listener satisfaction is our priority - we won’t guarantee placement to labels or artists, and we only ever recommend music we think listeners will want to hear."

According to The Verge, a Spotify spokesperson wouldn't disclose the royalty rate because it's still being tested, but did say "the idea is for artist teams to be able to earn a positive ROI by using the tool," and added that Spotify would “calibrate to make sure that the widest group of artists and labels can find success."